Jill Stein’s running mate: ‘So be it’ if we played spoiler to Clinton

Since the election, Stein has rejected accusations by some in the media and Clinton supporters that her campaign, which earned about 1 percent of the popular vote at nearly 1.5 million votes, helped to hand the election over to Republican Donald Trump.

During a Facebook Live discussion Tuesday night, her response to the topic remained unchanged. Stein suggested that nearly 60 percent of Green Party voters would not have come out to vote if they didn’t have a Green Party candidate for whom to vote. Furthermore, over one-third of those who would have cast a vote anyway said they would have picked Trump, Stein added.

“When you actually run the numbers, the benefit to Hillary Clinton wiping out our campaign would not have made a difference in any state,” Stein said.

Stein’s former vice presidential running mate, Ajamu Baraka, took her defensive stance on the Green Party’s impact a step further.

“I’m one that does not shy away from that notion of a spoiler,” Baraka said after Stein spoke. “We are in this struggle to build a party, to advance our interests … When you impact an election, then so be it.”

He went on to say the Green Party needs to embrace this attitude because of the threat of “pressure” that will be placed on the third-party’s future presidential ambitions to step aside.

“Whatever that means in terms of short-term politics — so be it,” Baraka said.